Welcome to Day 22 of the 6th Annual March MG Madness, featuring Karen Harrington her book, Mayday!
MAYDAY
By Karen Harrington
May 24, 2016
Little Brown BFYR
MAYDAY features, Wayne Kovok, who lives in a world of After. After his uncle in the army was killed overseas. After Wayne and his mother survived a plane crash while coming back from the funeral. After he lost his voice.
Wayne has always used his love of facts to communicate ("Did you know more people die each year from shaking a vending machine than from shark attacks?"). Without his voice, how will he wow the prettiest girl in school? How will he stand up to his drill-sergeant grandfather? And how will he share his hopes with his deadbeat dad? It's not until Wayne loses his voice completely that he realizes how much he doesn't say.
Wayne has always used his love of facts to communicate ("Did you know more people die each year from shaking a vending machine than from shark attacks?"). Without his voice, how will he wow the prettiest girl in school? How will he stand up to his drill-sergeant grandfather? And how will he share his hopes with his deadbeat dad? It's not until Wayne loses his voice completely that he realizes how much he doesn't say.
MAYDAY was selected as a Best Children’s Book of 2016 by Smithsonian’s AIR & SPACE MAGAZINE and was a 2016 Kirkus Best Middle Grade Book.
by Karen Harrington
Because MAYDAY is a book featuring a fact-loving seventh grader, I thought I’d share five behind the scenes facts about the book.
1. The main character, Wayne Kovok, actually first appears in another middle-grade book , COURAGE FOR BEGINNERS. He was that guy at the lunch table who served as a little comic relief for the other friends at his lunch table. But there was something so intriguing about him that I wanted to learn more about his life. Turns out, his comedy and recitation of facts served to hide a pretty anxious, confused young dreamer.
2. The original working title was WAYNE KOVOK FLIES AGAIN
3. I wrote the final sentence of the book early in the drafting process and it remained until the end. I’d challenged myself to follow author John Irving’s process of waiting to begin writing until you know the final line. He said everything that comes before that line must naturally precede it.
4. There are more than 70 confirmed facts throughout the book. I’ve always collected facts!
5. I included the last name of my favorite middle-grade author on page four of MAYDAY. It’s a hat-tip to author Gary Schmidt!
Karen Harrington is an author and former speechwriter. Her books include SURE SIGNS OF CRAZY (2013), COURAGE FOR BEGINNERS (2014) and MAYDAY (2016) all from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Her books have appeared on nine state reading lists.
Sure Signs of Crazy was also a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the year, a 2014 Notable Children’s Book selection from the Children’s Literature Assembly and a 2014 Bank Street Children’s Book Committee Best Book of the Year.
Karen lives in Dallas, TX with her family, where she enjoys reading, writing, cooking and long walks with her rescue dog, Sam. Website * Twitter * Facebook
Win 1 of 3 signed copies of MAYDAY!
Karen has generously offered three (3) copies for three winners.
-US
-ends 4/5/17
-three winners will each get one signed book
-winner will be emailed and must claim prize within 48 hours
-Word Spelunking is not responsible for lost, damaged, or stolen prizes
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